


SOS

by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Feelings, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Paralysis, Poison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:09:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29118036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Of_Dresden/pseuds/ClaraCivry
Summary: Based on a prompt:".five is cursed/poisoned, where he is paralysed and unable to do anything, meaning very very slow heartbeats and "not breathing", and diego and klaus thought he's dead. Five can feel and see everything and they try to revive him."So yeah. Klaus and Diego find Five drugged, think he's dead. It's.... intense.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 7
Kudos: 180





	SOS

This is not Five's first time with paralytic drugs.

Honestly, in things that have to do with pain, he doesn't have many "firsts" left. Be it the apocalypse, the commission or their fathers unique (horrifying) brand of education, the truth was that Five had felt it all, been through it all.

Burned in fires, shot at more times than he could count, impaled (that one was part of the top five of pain, for sure, his twenties had been so much fun), brainwashed, poisoned, electrocuted... Yeah, he's been through all of that and he had survived, because he had a mission, and he hadn't wanted to give the satisfaction of seeing die to whoever it was that was hurting him.

So yeah, he was an expert, but there are still some things... Some things were especially horrifying, cause an almost overwhelming amount of dread, of terror. Even for him. Like this. This very moment in which he is locked in his body, unable to move, to do anything, just thrown on the floor, looking at nowhere, unable to warn the others, unable to do anything.

Scream, move, help.

Nothing.

He can do nothing. Not even close his eyes.

And who knows when would this drug's effect disappear? Five doesn't know what he's been injected with, but he knows it's strong. So strong that his breathing and heart beat have been decreased to an imperceptible degree - the only reason he is thinking is, probably, because whoever it has been has modified it to leave cognitive functions intact.

They wanted him to watch, and to know, while they butchered his family. They wanted him to be able to do nothing, nothing but watch, nothing but hear the screams and realise what was happening, and die knowing that he'd failed everyone - that after all, he'd been completely useless.

His worst nightmare come to life. This is a first.

Seconds pass slowly, while Five struggled to try and listen, to hope for a Hargreeves victory, to be able to get out of this prison of not knowing, of dreading, of imagining what those guys were doing to his brothers, of seeing them dead, again, you can never save you useless piece of meat, you just lay there and do nothing, and now they're dead, dead, dead...

There's some noise, there's some commotion, but Five can't tell who's won. There's a scream but he can't tell if it's Klaus or one of the bad guys and there's someone sounding like they'd been stabbed...? That would be good. It would mean that Diego had the upper hand, wherever he was. The bad guys had guns, and there had been no gunshot sounds.

Well, maybe this was just his mind hoping for the best, his mind providing him with a pleasant scenario to be able to make it through this hellish experience. To give him a reason to hold on to himself, to his body, to the world.

But no, it was no trick, since seconds later Diego and Klaus appeared, a bit bloodied but apparently unharmed (thank heavens) and going to call the others to warn them, and the police so they can take away these trespassers... When they see him, and their expressions turn... Terrified.

"Five?" Klaus' voice is small, and broken and scared, and this is very unlike him.

"F-f-f-five?" Diego's voice is too high, and broken too, and there's so much pain in his eyes.

"I'm sure...." Klaus says, getting closer. "I'm sure he's just passed out."

"People d-d-don't pass out wi-wi-with their eyes open."

Klaus has put him in his lap now, has his fingers on his neck, looking for a pulse that he won't find, then under his nose, trying to find a breathing that is not there. For the longest time he tries, hopes, despairs, but there's nothing. No breathing. No pulse.

"No, no, no, no no no no no no... Five, come on, hey.... come on, Five...."

"K-K-klaus?"

"He's not.... he's not breathing. I can't find a pulse."

Number two looks at his brother's semingly lifeless eyes, his limp body, an expression of pain etched in him forever. Five wants to tell him that is okay, that he's still there, but he can't.

Diego screams, a deep, loud, heart-wrenching scream filled with raw endless grief. Then he throws an armchair against a cupboard, punches a window. Screams again, and then again, and again, and again.

Klaus is holding him closer now, rocking him close to his chest, straightening Five's bangs, caressing his too-cold face, hoping for a miracle.

"You can't do this to us, Five. We just got you back, and we... we haven't heard half of your stories... I... We haven't got drunk together, we haven't.... so many things... I... you did so much for us, fuck, and I was... I can't believe we weren't here for you, Five..."

There is so much pain, in Klaus, in Diego, in their voices, in their eyes. They look at him and look broken, as if they were feeling a devastating loss, as if their hearts had been shatteed in little pieces.

Five hears Diego sobbing in the background, Klaus is about to break down too. Well, this is quite unexpected. Five didn't think his death would matter this much, that it would bring about all of this grief. It would be a bit comforting, knowing that they care about so much, if it wasn't for the fact that he isn't actually dead and his brothers may bury him alive.

"I'm so sorry, Five, I wish I had more time with you, I wish... I would have listened to you talk about the end of the world, you know, it was your life, and it was constantly in your head, and we were dismissive and rude..."

Klaus is still holding him, Diego's sobs still very present in the background.

Klaus' tears fall on his face.... And Five feels them. Which means he's recovering feeling in his face, which means he can maybe somehow signal he's still alive.

It takes a bit. Klaus apologizes for a million things he could have done better, for not being there for him more, for not looking for him better when he was gone, for not making a bigger effort to understand him when he ame back and was... complicated. For not making sure he was all right, mostly. Not looking out for him better.

And then....

Slowly and painfully, but Five managed to close his eyes, much to Klaus' shock.

"Five, buddy?"

Short. Short. Short.

Loooong. Looong. Looong.

Short. Short. Short.

Klaus smiles, brings a hand to his mouth, breathes.

"He's alive. Diego, he's alive!"

"What?" Diego comes, his face still full of tear tracks, his eyes bloodshot.

"He's blinking!"

"Maybe is s-some.... some dead..."

Klaus shakes his head, happy as a lamb.

"He's blinking SOS in morse code, Five's in there somehow."

"B-blink twice if you can hear us, Five!"

He does so.

Klaus and Diego smile, and laugh, and just look like they've won the lottery.

"You scared the bejesus out of us, buddy!" Klaus says and hugs him close again. "When I saw you thrown on the floor like that, with your eyes open... We should have guessed that you weren't that easy to kill, huh?"

"We'll take him to mom. Maybe she knows what they've given him, or what." Diego says, after having cleaned his face a bit. "Glad that you're still with us, Five. I... Don't... ever do that again, all right?"

It's eighteen hours until he regains full mobility, but he can talk again in just four, and breathing normally again in an hour. Diego and Klaus stay with him in the infirmary the whole time, even if Five is not great company. The others come around too, start investigating who sent those guys, and what to do about that.

But it's okay- This may as well count as one of the scariest days of their lives, but in the end, Five didn't have to watch his family die before his eyes again, and Diego and Klaus didn't lose a brother.

Five is kind of comforted that someone would be sad if he died (for the longest time, he thought no one would cry, no one would cre that much) and the others are reminded of how glad they are to have their most murderous brother back and alive.

Maybe they'll pay a bit more attention to him from now on. Tolerate his quirks a bit better.

For now, all three of them are huddled in Five's infirmary bed, with no intention of letting go.

Not for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> My thanks to the prompter, hope that you and every other reader has enjoyed!!
> 
> If you did, you know you want to comment!!


End file.
